As a SATCOM engineer, this is pretty cool

On a quiet morning in July 2026, patrol boats near Gabon’s Grand Sud Reserve closed in on three unlicensed trawlers hauling nets through protected waters. The catch wasn’t fish—it was evidence. None of the vessels had valid licenses, and all had switched off their tracking systems. But someone was watching from space.

The tip came from Global Fishing Watch, a nonprofit that analyzes satellite data to spot illegal fishing. In a region where industrial trawling is banned to protect marine life, the discovery was a win—and a rare one. Most illegal fishing goes unseen. In 2024, researchers found that 72% to 76% of the world’s industrial fishing vessels vanish from public tracking, especially around Africa and Southeast Asia. With 30,500 kilometers of coastline across 38 nations, Africa loses an estimated $11 billion to $13 billion a year to illegal fishing—money that could feed communities, fund schools, and protect ecosystems.

The problem starts with a simple switch. Ships use automatic identification systems (AIS) to avoid collisions, but crews can turn them off to hide. Many do. Most African governments still rely on this self-reporting system, even though it’s easy to cheat. That’s beginning to change. In June 2026, 15 countries—including Somalia and six other African nations—signed a pledge at the Our Ocean Conference in Mombasa to share ownership and location data of fishing vessels.

But there’s a better way to watch the oceans: from space, directly. A team at the University of Florida, led by aerospace engineer Norman Fitz-Coy and Ph.D. candidate the author, designed a satellite system tailored for equatorial waters like the Somali Basin—one of the world’s richest tuna grounds. Instead of using polar orbits that waste time over empty poles, their model uses 24 satellites tilted just 20 degrees from the equator. This setup scans the basin every 1.1 hours—more than three times as often as traditional systems.

The tech exists, but it’s not just about eyes in the sky. Radar sensors spot vessels as bright dots, but identifying them requires sharp images taken on the fly. The satellites must decide in seconds which dots to zoom in on. And with only minutes of power per orbit, they must also sort and send just the most important data. Ground stations in Malindi, Kenya, and Hartebeesthoek, South Africa, help download it—but there aren’t enough.

Still, the biggest challenge isn’t technical. It’s human. Satellites can’t board ships or prosecute crimes. They need coastal nations to act—to patrol, to cooperate, and to care. As the research shows, the tools to stop illegal fishing are within reach. What’s needed now is the will to use them.